Memory
by oneredneckgoddess
Summary: Set two years after Destroyer. What are out heroes up to now? Written for the DC ficathon.


Memory

For Xffan2000.

"Earth. Third planet in orbit around a fairly young yellow sun, in the theta section of quadrant 2814. At least according to the Guardians of Oa. To the people of said planet, they were part of the Milky Way galaxy and that is all the identification they need. Many on the planet would be surprised to know that most of the known universe knew of their existence. The new home to the last living Kryptonian, the last Martian and other interesting species, it is a true abundance of culturist differences. The most notable is not a member of the legendary Justice League, but rather a native of the planet, known as Lex Luthor, the annihilator of the tyrant, Darkseid. For more on Darkseid, please see the Apocalypse entry."

Shayera Hol burst out laughing when she finished reading the entry. Clark was going to go ballistic when he read that. The entry was in the new planetary guide the ruling "heads" of Ajuris 4 had put together. They had sent a copy to each planet in a primary language of that planet. Earth's had been sent in English and had arrived at the Justice League headquarters, the Watchtower, a week ago. Bruce had insisted on examining the guide first. He had sent it back the night before and bookmarked the Earth entry.

Alarms began to ring throughout the Watchtower. Pushing the blinking button, Shayera found herself face to face with Diana. "What's up?"

"Are you having problems with the log-ins up there?" Diana asked.

"Not that I've noticed. Why? Or do I even want to know?"

"Booster and Wally got into a prank war and their latest escapade has locked all active members out of the MetroTower." Diana sighed. Do you think we did the right thing?"

"It could be worse," Shayera pointed out.

"In what way?"

"He could be up here running things and have the entire population wondering if the Watchtower was going to come crashing down upon them at any time."

"Oh, Hera. I hadn't thought of that one. Hold on a second." Diana switched screens and spent a few seconds speaking with someone else. "Sorry that was Bruce wanting to know if he had to schedule a space walk today."

"He went a took care of Wally? Why didn't Clark do it?"

"Because they wiped all the codes. Even the back-up ones."

"Bruce is going to kill him."

"My thoughts exactly."

"So how are you enjoying retirement?" Shayera asked, taking the rare opportunity to speak with her friend.

"Retirement isn't so bad. I still have my ambassadorial duties, Alfred's teaching me how to cook and Bruce spends a little less time down here in the 'Cave these days," Diana said with a smile.

"Have you heard from J'onn and Lydia?"

"They're probably enjoying their honeymoon."

"I still can't believe it took them this long to get married."

"I know. But there was Clark and Lois, then Bruce and me. Not to mention we had to make sure that at least one of us wasn't going into retirement to monitor things."

"It still makes me shudder to think we almost let Wally run the whole thing."

"Do you resent running the Watchtower?" Diana asked. She really wanted to know the answer.

"I'm a warrior, Diana. You know the call in the blood feeling." The Amazon nodded. "That and I couldn't stand the looks on Earth anymore."

The roar of the Batplane's engines finished their conversation. With a few words to Bruce, the couple disappeared. Shayera chuckled to herself. Bruce had finally admitted to himself that he loved Diana. Unfortunately it had taken a couple of meddlesome, matchmaking gods to get the job done. Batman still roamed the streets of Gotham City and sometimes Wonder Woman was seen patrolling with him.

Continuing through the trip down memory lane, Shayera thought back to Clark and Lois' wedding. He had not been prepared to learn that most of the Daily Planet staff had been in the building at the time of his and Darkseid's fight. Learning that Lois had suffered a head injury and lapsed into a coma was taxing on him. And the League. For the first month after the invasion, Superman had been MIA. The media started a rumor that Darkseid had killed the famed Man of Steel. He had reappeared when she had woken up. She had been so mad at discovering the truth about Superman, he'd actually radioed for backup. Lois had the last laugh when she made him wait a full month before accepting his marriage proposal.

J'onn had been the other member to retire from the League. Though he and Clark still helped out when needed, neither were on active duty. J'onn had trained her and Wally for about three months. He and Lydia had met when he was in Europe over his hiatus. She had taken the fact that he was a Martian in stride. Lydia had moved to Metropolis while their training took place and then the two were off again. Shayera had heard through the grapevine they were going to Mexico to see the Mayan ruins for their honeymoon.

John hadn't had the luxury of retiring. The Green Lantern Corps was a life long commitment. It ended when the ring bearer died. He wasn't as active in the League but he kept the ties. He and Mari had moved in together. Lately, John had spent more and more time in space because of heavy piracy activity that seemed to explode after Darkseid's defeat. There were days Shayera felt pity for Mari. She apparently wasn't happy with the current situation, but John wasn't home long enough for them to fix it.

When it had become apparent that five of the seven original members were no longer going to have a hand in the day to day operations of the League, it had fallen to Shayera and Wally to decide if they wanted to shoulder the responsibility. She had hesitated when asked and Wally piped up that he wanted to run the Watchtower. Until Clark tactfully pointed out that there wouldn't been any "bring your girlfriend to work" days in space. He had relented and quit working in the Central City Crime Lab. Wally, Vigilante, Shining Knight, Fire, Ice, Crimson Avenger, S.T.R.I.P.E., Stargirl, Plastic Man, Gypsy and Vibe were all on active status. And with the exception of S.T.R.I.P.E. and Stargirl, they all lived in the MetroTower. Most of the time it was like an adult version of Titans Tower.

Booster Gold lived in the Watchtower. He had however gotten on her, Steel, Question, and Mr. Miracle's nerves. When he had set Big Barda off, Shayera had sent him to the surface for punishment. This had apparently not worked, much to Shayera's dismay.

The console beeped again and this time it was the Javelin 4. Vigilante, Ice and Steel had responded to a distress call that had turned out to be John. "Javelin 4, this is the Watchtower."

"I do have to say that it's good to be home," Vigilante said.

"Good to have you back. Any injuries?"

"Not unless you count Mr. Personality here."

"Shut up and land the damn craft, cowboy," John's irritated baritone was easily distinguishable from Vigilante's slow western drawl.

"Yes, sir. Shayera, we're dropping off Steel and Cranky-pants then heading back to Earth."

"Copy. I'll advise the landing bay crew. Watchtower out."

Ten minutes later, John came striding into the monitor womb. He grunted a greeting at her and plunked down at a terminal. Shayera watched Batman 2.0 with a shake of her head. She wanted to ask him about it but their relationship had been strained since he chose Mari after the Shadow Thief encounter two years ago. Steel came in a few minutes later and updated her on their part of the mission.

He'd been sitting there for over an hour. The stupid report was finished and he had sent a copy off to Oa. Steel had left a while back. Shayera was still in her spot doing whatever. He turned and watched the continents pass.

"Want to talk about it?"

Her question startled him. "Talk about what?"

"Well, let's see. You usually complete your paperwork in record time and disappear. It's now been an hour and a half since Vig dropped you guys off and your report's been done for at least forty-five minutes."

"I don't want to go back to an empty apartment."

"So go to whatever location shoot Mari's at."

"That would be pointless since she dumped me quite nicely just before I left."

"Oh." She paused. "I'm sorry."

"Me too. Guess that means I made the wrong choice."

"You couldn't have known that it was going to end like this."

"No, but we could have had…"

"John. Stop it. Just because you saw Rex doesn't mean that he is a surefire guarantee."

"That's what Bruce said."

The silence that followed was awkward. She didn't know what else to say and he was contemplating a decision. The decision was taken from them when the console stared going off again.

"Watchtower."

"Hey, hey, Feathers!"

"I see Bruce didn't kill you."

"Doesn't mean he didn't try. Booster got the really bad end of it though."

Shayera laughed. "What's up?"

"I have your Tuesday night special here. Want me to send it up?"

"I think you're my hero."

"I aim to please the ladies."

"Uh-huh. Just send me my dinner."

"Later Feathers."

A bright blue light filled the room as the transported brought a large flat box from the surface. "He sent you a pizza?" John asked.

"Yeah. I don't get down to the planet a lot, so Wally sends me something other than commissary food once a week. Want some?"

The offhanded comment surprised them both. "Sure."

Between the two of them they polished off the supreme pie without problems. The conversation revolved around the last seven years, wisely not touching too much on the last two. They talked about fights long past and some of Wally's early antics leading to the incident that day.

"So how long have you two been getting away this? Bruce has to have some clue," John asked.

"Diana's in on it. She erases that particular transporter event from the main memory. It's actually quite fun for her."

"You think I can commodore one of the spare rooms for the night? I'm not all that eager to return to my apartment."

"Sure. Your old one's still empty."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

At the door he asked, "Do you ever think we could start over?"

"No. We can't erase that which has already come to pass. The most we can do is learn from our mistakes and try not to repeat them."

"So…?"

"So… what, John?"

"Want to learn from out mistakes and try again?"

Shayera looked over her shoulder at the only man she really ever loved. "Anytime."

Xffan2000: First of all I would like to say I have always been a big fan of yours. Trashy Romance Plot Number Four is one of my favorite fics. I know you said move them on. I did. They just ended up coming back to each other. :) I did manage to toss in the other two scenarios you requested. However, I love writing Shayera and these two are my favorite couple. So enjoy! Happy Monday to you!

JLManiac1982


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